Need lighting advice from my fellow reefers...

[bulletsworld]

I'm trying to decide on whether to buy a used lighting unit. Need your advice to tell me what you think, if good deal, pro's and con's. As it would be my first MH unit, pretty silly hey. Well pick a way and convince me to go with it or not to go with it. I would love to hear all your advice. Since all I can think of is how much better my tank will look and how my pods, fish and anemone will love me if I flourish them with the closest thing to real live SUNNNNNNN!



My tank is 48"L X 16"W X 20" H (Tank is a 77 gal)

Used Lighting system is:
Hamilton 2 x 175W 10, 000k MH & 2x 40W power compact blue actinics.
Dimensions of fixture: 48inch length X 13inch width X 6inch height
it's got 1 fan on one side, and a filtering thin sponge thingy on the
other for trapping dust and what not
- one metal halide ballast (magnetic I believe) and the dimensions are:
15inch length X 7inch width X 4inch height
- one power compact ballast (also magnetic I think)
- the fixture is black aluminum with high quality electro-white reflector
and UV filtering acrilic lens
- the lights are about 7-8 months old, so you may need to replace.
Asking $400 on this fixture.

Help! Need your thoughts reefers!

[bulletsworld]

Also any ideas as to if having MH was a big dent on anyones power bill? Was it a noticable difference?

[Reefhawk1]

Hi there The set up sounds ok to me a little pricy for used though , I have a set up I purchased from Toronto. New Ushio 10,000k bulbs were only 85 dollars each Canadian plus shipping. The Only problem with buying a used unit is there is no warranty on the ballast and your bulbs might have to be replaced in a few months. I live in a apartment and I can definatly notice a change in my power bill. I am running a duel 175 watt set up with 55 watt pc bulbs. The power bill has gone up by 35 dollars a month, its worth it though my corals a thriving compared to when I was using power compact bulbs.
Here is the web site if you are interested. My ballast came with a 2 year warranty and it was alot cheaper than JL aquatics.

http://www.cooltouchlighting.com/index.asp

[mr_alberta]

Hey Lee! Finally bringing out the big guns eh??

You may be able to do it a little bit cheaper via DIY, but I'm not sure if
you want to go there or not....

I've also heard some good things about Cool Touch Lighting and the good thing about them is that they are based in Canada, so no silly brokerage fees if you order from them!

The lighting for $400 isn't the greatest deal as you can almost DIY it for a little more and with new bulbs:

2x175W PFO TAR ballast $189 (JL's)
2xPFO 24" reflector&socket assembly $175.90 (JL's)
2x175W ARC 20000K bulbs $80 (aquaria Canada)

TOTAL: $444.90 (excluding taxes and shipping)
This might actually be cheaper than the Cool Touch setup since bulbs need to be purchased separately and all their prices, I believe, are in USD.

So, for $50 more than the used get up, you could get a whole new system (without the florescent lights though). A bonus though, is that the PFO reflectors I listed above are suppose to be some of the best on the market. Also, with such a high Kelvin bulb, you probably wouldn't need any actinics (unless you want to do the daylight/dusk effect).

[Quinn]

Lee have you ruled out the possibility of going with 250w?

[mr_alberta]

Actually Lee,

If you want to go all the way to 400W, you can talk to Jim...he has some old 400W ballasts lying around (don't know how much he'd want for them though)...and the bulbs would be like $80 for 2....then you'd just need the reflector and a standoffs for the mogul sockets.

[Richer]

Just to add to the convo... if you want to save some more cash (and don't want to go farther than 175 watts), you can always go and buy yourself a couple of M57 ballasts. I got two from Bartle and Gibson for 62.70 bucks each. They don't look pretty, but they run my 175 watt ushios just fine... If you want casings for them, I would talk to Jim, the guy has a bunch of MH casings laying around his garage.

-Richer

[bulletsworld]

Aw….see you guys are all great! I knew I asked the best people. Just when others in the household here just don’t under stand. Thanks for your replies guys.

Originally Posted by Reefhawk1

I live in a apartment and I can definatly notice a change in my power bill. I am running a duel 175 watt set up with 55 watt pc bulbs. The power bill has gone up by 35 dollars a month, its worth it though my corals a thriving compared to when I was using power compact bulbs.Here is the web site if you are interested.

Reefhawk1 – I just love your avater, it is SOOoOoo adorable! I’ve been meaning to tell yeah everytime I seen it.

So hey thanks for the site, I’m have been totally checking it out. Hey $35 dollars extra a month you noticed on your power bill? I figured $10 maybe $ 20 but I guess hey, just enough to burn our apartments down regardless hey. Curious what everyone else has experianced with there power bill?

Originally Posted by newguy

Hey Lee! Finally bringing out the big guns eh??

Well after seeing you guys tanks it made me what Bigger, BRIGHTER, MORE corals! Make my lil wee guy grow! Its you guys fault. Well that’s the story I’m telling my BF anyway.

Yeah DIY units, I’m not sure about. Can’t say I would know what I’m doing. So I think that’s why I thought of going with a already assembled unit.

Originally Posted by teevee

Lee have you ruled out the possibility of going with 250w?

I was thinking for the 77 gal I would start with dual 175w and figured that was all I would really need as long as I stayed away from SPS corals though, hey. But call me silly I’m into the softies lately. It will pass I’m sure then I will kick myself in the @ss.

[bulletsworld]

Originally Posted by Richer

Just to add to the convo... if you want to save some more cash (and don't want to go farther than 175 watts), you can always go and buy yourself a couple of M57 ballasts. I got two from Bartle and Gibson for 62.70 bucks each. They don't look pretty, but they run my 175 watt ushios just fine... If you want casings for them, I would talk to Jim, the guy has a bunch of MH casings laying around his garage.-Richer

Hmm...... Bartle and Gibson sells ballasts? Pondering the thought of the DIY units now. Hmm....

[Quinn]

Richer how are those ones compared to the ones HD sells?